Duane Michals: "Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty" 1998

Duane Michals, Dr. Heisenberg’s Magic Mirror of Uncertainty, 19.8×24.7 cm (ea), 1998

Handwriting below photographs:

• “Odette can never be sure with any certainty which reflection of herself she will see in the mirror.”
• "The act of looking in the mirror affects what the image will be."
• “Uncertainty permits anything and everything”.

Werner Heisenberg, The Uncertainty Principle and Quantum Mechanics, from the American Institute of Physics:

http://www.aip.org/history/heisenberg/p08.htm

I'm not speaking in hyperbole when I say I've been a fan of Duane Michals for a long time. I

Caturday in the Studio

This is my buddy and studio assistant, Calvin. Some Saturdays I'll be posting a new photo of Calvin "hard at work" in the studio.

David Altmejd at Andrea Rosen Gallery

I want to recommend going to see David Altmejd at Andrea Rosen Gallery before it closes on March 8. I've kept Altmejd's work on my radar for awhile.  While this current exhibition, called Juices, is at once striking and "cool", giving it further thoughtful attention is illuminating and worthwhile.

The largest piece in the show is 11 feet tall and spans a space 21 x 24 ft.  It's big. I'm glad I took my time studying the exhibition, because the longer I stayed and went back to look at different areas a second and third time, the more I was able to discern narrative connections within the piece. While Altmejd's craftsmanship is often raw and crude with reason (because life gets sloppy), the narrative is intricate and woven deeply.

David Altmejd, The Flux and The Puddle
photo by Lance Brewer courtesy Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York

Stories about fruit juice, body juice and art juice, travel throughout a three-dimensional

Sol LeWitt: "Sentences on Conceptual Art"

I've kept the following list of sentences printed on a sheet of paper for years, sometimes referring to it for confirmation or perhaps even to take a stand firmly opposed to one of the items listed. It's been a fantastic tool to either bring self-awareness or remind one of things learned long ago and forgotten.

Since first seeing this list I've found myself friends with people who knew Sol LeWitt. They have all said something about him having been intelligent and a kind person. I suppose that's true.

Sentences on Conceptual Art
by Sol LeWitt

1. Conceptual artists are mystics rather than rationalists. They leap to conclusions that logic cannot reach.
2. Rational judgements repeat rational judgements.
3. Irrational judgements lead to new experience.
4. Formal art is essentially rational.
5. Irrational thoughts should be followed absolutely and logically.
6. If the artist changes his mind midway through the execution of the piece he compromises the result and repeats past results.
7. The artist's will is secondary to the process he initiates from idea to completion. His wilfulness may only be ego.
8. When words such as painting and sculpture are used, they connote a whole tradition and imply a consequent acceptance of this tradition, thus placing limitations on the artist who would be reluctant to make art that goes beyond the limitations.

Pete Seeger (1919 – 2014)

"We Shall Not Be Moved" : Recorded live in 1980.

We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

We're young and old together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

CHORUS

We're women and men together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

CHORUS

Here's the city and country together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved

We're black and white together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's standing by the water
We shall not be moved

Yes, straight and gay together, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

Well, it's no nukes is good nukes, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be move

Split wood not atoms, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

We shall not, we shall not be moved, (2x)
Just like a tree that's planted by the water
We shall not be moved

Traditional American folk song with new lyrics by Seeger.